Dear Editor,
I must admit that I am borrowing the term ‘lifestyle issues’ from the cities of several developed countries, whose mayors and police commissioners have sought to maintain the laws against offences which include playing loud music without due consideration for neighbours; urinating in public; time limits for dances and other public recreational occasions; curfews on the sale of alcohol at public events; and curtailments on smoking in public environments.
Borrowing from these, let me come home to Guyana. Editor, I am particularly concerned about the manner in which our revered St George’s Cathedral is being patrolled by (male) sex workers, and the fact that the relevant authorities are not taking steps to stop this.
Apart from being an insult to a national symbol of worship, I am imagining the negative impressions that those displays are having on Guyana’s inhabitants, especially worshippers and younger people, as well as visitors to the country.
I hope that this letter of concern will attract support from other concerned citizens, and we can go a step further and organize joint advocacy and action in order to stop this unsightly practice. Editor, I am quite conscious that I am putting myself out on a dangerous limb by making this call, since there are a variety of human beneficiaries from the occupation of St George’s Cathedral’s surroundings by the sex workers, but I believe that someone has to have the courage to bell the cat, and I have no hesitation as a political advocate, in doing so.
While I am on the topic of the cathedral, I would like to take this opportunity to mount an ($) appeal for restoring and preserving that historical wooden structure, which has done us proud over the years.
Yours faithfully,
Morris Wilson
